Radio City Entertainment and the union that represents the Rockettes reached an agreement Wednesday that offers 41 veteran dancers buyouts of US$30,000 to US$120,000 and allows the traditional Christmas spectacular to go on without a strike.
Earlier this month, Radio City, which is owned by Cablevision Systems, disbanded the roster of 41 Rockettes with guaranteed job security, mandating that they audition annually to be on the kick line, as do the rest of the 200 Rockettes nationwide.
Under the agreement, the 41 Rockettes will be bought out for US$2 million, distributed according to length of service.
"It's not the price the Rockettes wanted, but in the context of the negotiations, it was a reasonable price," said John Hall, chief negotiator for the American Guild of Variety Artists, which represents the dancers.
The 41 will also be guaranteed spots in this year's Christmas Spectacular, which is to open Nov. 7 at Radio City Music Hall. Eleven out of the 41 were offered an additional US$12,000 to retire voluntarily.
There are 80 Rockettes who rotate into the Christmas show -- including two casts of 36 as well as standbys. Forty percent of the Rockettes in the Christmas Show will be offered a place the following year, but not in future years. Hall called this agreement "thinly-veiled job security."
Seth Abraham, president of Madison Square Garden/Radio City Entertainment said in a statement, "We are delighted to have reached a fair, long-term agreement."
The settlement allows the production schedule for the Christmas Spectacular to proceed and Radio City to avoid an unflattering battle with the chorus line that has become a beloved New York institution. Over the last few days, members of the roster had been passing out flyers in front of Radio City, saying their jobs were at risk.
Under its original buyout plan, Radio City had offered each dancer US$3,000 for each year of employment, a proposal the dancers unanimously rejected.
The agreement is the first national contract for the Rockettes; previously contracts were divided between dancers in New York and those in satellite Rockette troupes elsewhere. Under the new contract, dancers outside New York will now receive benefits, Hall said. Debby Kole Murphy, a veteran Rockette who was also one of two union representatives on the negotiating team, said Wednesday she had yet to decide whether she would accept the buyout and whether she would audition to be a Rockette in the future. "I need a little more time to think about how I feel about it," she said.
Murphy is perhaps representative of the members of the corps whose future was called into question by an increasingly bitter labor dispute.
In an interview on Friday, Murphy said Radio City had underestimated the value of experience, that being a Rockette wasn't as simple doing eye-high kicks at Christmas and putting on a Radio City smile.
"We are a precision dance team," said Murphy recently, wearing a "Rockettes Unite!" T-shirt.
"That is what made us famous for 75 years," she added. "It takes a lot of years to synchronize our movements."
In eliminating the roster system, which was akin to tenure, Radio City said it wanted to level the playing field and have all dancers audition annually for positions.
Even for those on the roster, being a Rockette is a part-time job; New York Rockettes earn US$24,000 to US$32,000.
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